Five Things To Think About For Thursday 6/8

I predict not much of anything in former FBI Director James Comey’s Senate testimony Thursday.

But #NeverTrump people will pan nuggets out of it to make the case that Comrade Trump’s gotta go.

And Trump supporters will herald more “vindication”.

Meanwhile, most of the general public will wish the Cavs were giving Golden State more of a series. Yawn.

Two Trump critics are pursuing the president on the novel theory that when he blocked them from his @realDonaldTrump account, they were “excluded from a public forum” and such banishment violates the First Amendment. Joe Papp and Holly Reilly needled and trolled Trump, and got blocked.

I’m with UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh on this one: “My inclination is…@realDonaldTrump, an account he used long before he became president and one that is understood as expressing his own views…rather than some institutional position of the executive branch, would be seen as privately controlled [and] not constrained by the First Amendment.”

Every politician using Twitter will watch this one.

Also suing Trump are dozens of Democratic senators and congressmen over what they see as a violation of the Constitution’s “emoluments clause”.

Emoluments are gifts or payments for use or discharge or your official duties. The Constitution says only Congress can grant permission for you to accept or keep such gifts. But in this case, Cong. Jerald Nadler (D-NY) is arguing that Trump’s “emoluments” are the rents and receipts from his hotels and restaurants paid by foreign governments and entities, who also have dealings with the federal government. Yes, really.

Trump attorney Sherri Dillon: “Paying for a hotel room is not a gift and has nothing to do with an office.”

I’m no lawyer, but isn’t it clear that if a foreign person rents a room, what they pay for is the room, and what they receive is the room? No one’s giving or receiving a “gift”.

Bob Stoops stepping down at Oklahoma is a seismic moment in college football. Only 57, 190-48 OU record, most successful coach they’ve ever had. Only Nick Saban, Brian Kelly and Bill Snyder have more W’s among active head coaches.

Here’s a cool factoid: with 33-year-old Lincoln Riley succeeding him Oklahoma, and Tom Herman taking over the Longhorns, this’ll be first time in 70 years that the Red River Rivalry will match up first-year head coaches.

Big changes in the Big 12.

Finally, North Korea punched-off what’s described as a “volley of land-to-ship” missiles on its east coast Wednesday night.

Just to remind us that there’s a world out there beyond Comeys, tweets and emoluments.